Well it’s hard for me to complain, not that it would do me any good. I only have one LFS here where I live (Alaska) and it’s hard for me to just walk in and start thinking of ways I would rearrange the place and make it more appealing to me and the products I would stock. The reality is, even though they stay busy with shorter hours/days due to the current crisis, the majority of there business is fresh water. I understand you have to emphasize on what makes you money to stay open. As for corals and fish, they have a high turn overate which from what I gather is due to the fact they do mostly special orders. I always see tanks with “Hold” or “Sold” or the fish/coral just isn’t in the tank. The people are very knowledgeable and the owner is constantly spending time in places like Florida bring back rare corals for the store. They know me by name and always ask how my tank is doing and wanting new pictures. When they are in my town they always ask if they can come over and check my tank out. They always give me the pros and cons to everything I buy from them and share customer reviews and their personal ones. “Sounds like I’m writing an add for them”. I just wanted to share first my experience with my local and only LFS in my area.
I would like to see my LFS have larger selections of corals and fish for a few reasons. Main one is QT. I have to be there on Thursdays when there shipment arrive just to get a chance to see what’s available “which normally leads me to a bad impulse buy even with there warnings”. When new frags come in I start purchasing corals I already have or don’t really have a spot just because I know it will be sometime before I see another one “.
Point here is, I don’t trust any out of state wholesalers and my LFS never gets a chance to QT and evaluate. So I spend a lot of time at home with QT tanks. I am not saying it’s not a good thing to QT anyways, but I would like to start off with a specimen that looks healthy from the LFS That’s been acclimated and supervised for some time instead of me going “what’s in that bag floating, I’ll take it!”.
PAR/Flow displayed on the tanks.
They have radion lights on there tanks which just so happens I do too “well hybrid radion 30s/t5” most of there common corals are on display for the short time they have them. I may be the exception or the only one that cares, but they allow me to measure the par level they are currently housed in so I can either slowly acclimate them to my DT or place them where they can have the same parameters. I think all online and LFS retailers should include recommended water flow and PAR levels “low to moderate” is not a form of measurement to me. Again I maybe the exception and just being anal as most corals/fish do adapt.
Sure I would love my LFS to have everything I want/need and do my one stop shopping. At the end of the day, they have to stay in business and that’s more important to me as they are willing to order anything I want. Because I like to support my local business, I order everything I need from them instead of online vendors “ok I have an issue with BRS but I still like there videos”. I used to be an avid online buyer “Alaska”. But with the shipping cost/time and not really seeing what you get in person, I was setup for disappointment a lot. Not to mention the DOA issues. I get the same products from my LFS either the same price or cheaper and a better warranty.
and I live in large metropolitan area
